{"id":61140,"date":"2024-05-25T08:49:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T08:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2"},"modified":"2024-05-25T08:49:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T08:49:00","slug":"prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2","title":{"rendered":"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. <\/strong><\/span>Human rights activists have expressed disappointment with failure by the Parliament of Malawi to give priority to the long-awaited Correctional Services (Amendment) Bill.<\/p>\n

The activists, who addressed journalists in Lilongwe on Wednesday, stressed that failure to discuss and pass the bill into law contradicts the promise President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera made to Malawians in 2023.<\/p>\n

When he opened the Budget Session last year, President Chakwera announced that his government was reviewing and that it would bring the bill forward to create a parole system that would usher in a more fair system for releasing prisoners before they complete their sentences.<\/p>\n

The proposed law was renamed the Correctional Services Bill to align it with international human rights standards, where prisons are supposed to rehabilitate inmates, not to punish them.<\/p>\n

The Bill proposes a number of changes, including open prisons, a parole system, half-way houses and ensuring that prisons keep the money generated by prisoners\u2019 work for refurbishment of correctional facilities.<\/p>\n

However, there has been no progress on it, a development that has riled activists.<\/p>\n

Centre for Human Rights Education Advice and Assistance Executive Director, Victor Chagunyuka Mhango, said members of Parliament (MPs) need to act with speed in debating and passing the Bill into law, saying it is key in decongesting the correctional facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed law will help a lot in improving the environment and promote the right to health in prisons whilst ensuring that the interests of justice are served. It\u2019s very unfortunate that we\u2019ve been talking about this since 2000 and took several years and then, we are saying that we are consulting. I don\u2019t think that is true,\u201d said Mhango.<\/p>\n

On his part, Peter Chisi, the Director of Political and Cultural Affairs at the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC), Peter Chisi, demanded that the Minister of Homeland Security should come \u201cout very clear in terms of the status of this legislation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Chisi wondered why there shold be delays when there have been promises that the bill would be tabled during any sitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we want to know where things are stuck. Secondary, we are aware that the law does not just come to Parliament. There are stages that have to put it has to go through. So, the minister should also be able to actually come up with a roadmap in terms of the development and presentation of the white paper to cabinet so that cabinet can actually give final approval for the law to be tabled in Parliament,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He further demanded that the \u2018same roadmap should also indicate what the mechanisms are there for the ministry to get stakeholders input into the law\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are saying this because a lot of this nature cannot just be drafted on the table just by the Minister on its own. It needs our stakeholders inputs, including us as human rights commission because as you wouldn\u2019t be aware, under Section 14 of the Human Rights Commission Act, it is our responsibility to review and make recommendations on new pieces of legislation. So on this one, we wouldn\u2019t be happy to make our inputs. But we can only do that. If we have a copy of the draft law. Here\u2019s our request to make sure that the ministry does engage stakeholders before it finalizes this law,\u201d narrated Chisi.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, the Paralegal Advisory Services Institute (PASI) National Director, Clifford Msiska, said the current Prison Act was formulated by colonialists to punish natives; hence, the need to replace it with a law that is in consistent with international human rights standards.<\/p>\n

Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare, Savel Kafwafwa, assured the activists that his committee will take the matter to his fellow MPs in the august House.<\/p>\n

The press conference was facilitated by the Irish Rule of Law.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Malawi<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Malawi. Human rights activists have expressed disappointment with failure by the Parliament of Malawi to give priority to the long-awaited Correctional Services (Amendment) Bill. The activists, who addressed journalists in Lilongwe on Wednesday, stressed that failure to discuss and pass the bill into law contradicts the promise President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":61139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,9,410],"tags":[233,371,234],"class_list":["post-61140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-miscellaneous","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-malawi","tag-malawi"],"yoast_head":"\nPrisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill - Malawi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Malawi. Human rights activists have expressed disappointment with failure by the Parliament of Malawi to give priority to the long-awaited Correctional Services (Amendment) Bill. The activists, who addressed journalists in Lilongwe on Wednesday, stressed that failure to discuss and pass the bill into law contradicts the promise President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera made […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Malawi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-25T08:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-25T08:49:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2\"},\"wordCount\":658,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Malawi\",\"Malawi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"miscellaneous\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2\",\"name\":\"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill - Malawi\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-25T08:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/\",\"name\":\"Malawi\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill - Malawi","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill","og_description":"Africa-Press – Malawi. Human rights activists have expressed disappointment with failure by the Parliament of Malawi to give priority to the long-awaited Correctional Services (Amendment) Bill. The activists, who addressed journalists in Lilongwe on Wednesday, stressed that failure to discuss and pass the bill into law contradicts the promise President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera made […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2","og_site_name":"Malawi","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-05-25T08:49:00+00:00","author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill","datePublished":"2024-05-25T08:49:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2"},"wordCount":658,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Malawi","Malawi"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","miscellaneous","to-homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2","name":"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill - Malawi","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg","datePublished":"2024-05-25T08:49:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/malawi\/sites\/36\/2024\/05\/Halid1716614384.016188.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/all-news\/prisoner-rights-activists-bemoan-delays-in-debating-passing-correctional-services-bill-2#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Prisoner rights activists bemoan delays in debating, passing Correctional Services Bill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/","name":"Malawi","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/malawi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}